Fyre
Netflix | Release Date: January 18, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Film ThreatChuck FosterJan 22, 2019
Documentaries by nature are utilitarian, telling a story from real events as they happen with little expectation of aesthetic value. Once again, Smith ups the ante, delivering a film that is not only intellectually stimulating but visually as well. Read full review
91
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonJan 15, 2019
It’s a gripping, fascinating watch, an elegantly assembled portrait of the end result of influencer culture and late-stage capitalism – the blind leading the blind into an empty, insubstantial image of success and luxury that turns out to be nothing but smoke. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comNick AllenJan 16, 2019
Much stranger than fiction, and yet it tells a story that makes perfect sense in the age of influencers and the general need to be seen. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineMalcolm VenableJan 15, 2019
It's a defining true crime story for the Internet age. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiJan 15, 2019
Chris Smith’s documentary about the 2017 Fyre Festival implosion resists the urge to revel in cheap social media schadenfreude. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubAlex McLevyJan 17, 2019
Fyre is the stronger, more worthwhile documentary, but its counterpart is a helpful reminder that, like so many stories, one account can’t contain the whole truth. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 16, 2019
The movie is more than a bonfire of the inanities; it’s a shrewd indictment of a dream gone spectacularly, criminally wrong. Read full review
82
IGNMatt FowlerJan 14, 2019
Fyre delivers greatly on the delight in the misfortune of the wealthy and the shallow that we all expect and crave, but it also smartly doesn't hang its hat on it. It's mostly about the actual well-intentioned people involved in this fiasco and how anyone can be suckered into a vision or dream when no one in a collective is willing to speak out as a lone voice of reason. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneDavid FearJan 18, 2019
You leave this movie knowing exactly why it never should have happened in the first place. Read full review
80
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJan 17, 2019
I sat watching Fyre in a state of amused disbelief (while, yes, occasionally taking the Lord’s name in vain). There’s not too many places to see this much madness, ego, greed, and full-on stupidity on display at the same time. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichJan 16, 2019
The jaw is meant to and does often drop, and not just because of McFarland. Two words: Ja Rule. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Jen ChaneyJan 16, 2019
Fyre director Chris Smith (American Movie and The Yes Men) has experience crafting stories about guys with big dreams and the capacity to pull off long cons, and he has a great instinct for finding the most damning anecdotes. Read full review
80
TimeJudy BermanJan 16, 2019
Director Chris Smith (Jim & Andy, American Movie) tends to let his subjects reveal themselves without distracting stylistic flourishes—an approach that’s ideally suited to the Fyre story. Read full review
80
The GuardianAdrian HortonJan 14, 2019
Fyre allows you to marvel, and to feel – how spectacular the hubris, how gross the unfairness – while reminding that whether you bought a ticket or not, you were the audience the whole time. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 18, 2019
As Fyre makes painfully clear, just about everyone involved with the project — including the co-founders — had to have known they were tumbling down a mountain at rapid speed and headed for almost guaranteed scandal and disaster, yet everyone kept on working, as if the denial would somehow soften the blow. Read full review
75
The PlaylistGary GarrisonJan 15, 2019
In being such a simple, unshowy film, it avoids asking too many questions or digging for the larger truths writ large in the story of Fyre about our society, about celebrity and influencers and Instagram, and the patently manufactured lives that we’re taught to believe we can have. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 14, 2019
Reaping the benefits of a generation that compulsively records the evidence of their crimes, Fyre exploits a motherlode of private footage that festival mastermind Billy McFarland commissioned throughout the process. It’s less of a snarky recap than a clinical post-mortem. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonJan 17, 2019
In Fyre, Mr. Smith tells a story of character, or lack thereof.
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJan 17, 2019
Fyre makes sure not to lose sight of the hard-working Bahamians who tried hard to make things work and paid a considerable financial price. Read full review
70
VoxAlissa WilkinsonJan 17, 2019
You actually come away from Netflix’s Fyre feeling like you’ve got a sense of who McFarland is and why he was able to con so many people into giving him their time, respect, and millions in cash. Read full review
70
Washington PostHank StueverJan 17, 2019
Even when it doesn’t intend to, the Netflix film makes a strong case that people are, on the whole, no good. It also notes the many hurtful ways that Fyre’s failures are not just fodder for laughs; the actual suffering continues. Read full review
70
The AtlanticDavid SimsJan 17, 2019
Fyre is primarily a journalistic exhumation of the Fyre Festival’s ridiculous excesses. But via interviews with both dissatisfied ticket-buyers and nervy ex-employees, the movie also scrapes away the sheen of the flamboyant “influencer” lifestyle that McFarland leveraged to sell tickets and hook investors. Read full review
70
SlateSam AdamsJan 17, 2019
Neither movie is perfect, and each underlines the other’s flaws, but if you’re watching one, watch Fyre, which is both less self-righteous and less inclined to punctuate its insights with Family Guy clips. Read full review
70
VarietyDaniel D'AddarioJan 16, 2019
Fyre, in the end, understands that the McFarlands of the world, changing the culture online but also wreaking havoc in the very real world, are bound to affect us all. Read full review
70
The New York TimesWesley MorrisJan 16, 2019
Fyre needs another layer. You can locate in it this national moment of brashness and effrontery. Read full review
50
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenFeb 28, 2019
A bit more investigative work on the part of the filmmakers might have gone a long way, especially because there is something of a black hole at the center of Fyre: McFarland is depicted as ground zero in terms of responsibility, but we never get a real sense of who the guy is, what drives him, or how he was able to pull the wool over so many eyes. Read full review
More From This Movie

75 Critic Reviews

7.6 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL